The DCE and the Police Commander inspecting the site
The District Chief Executive (DCE) for Ellembelle in the Western Region, Kwasi Bonzoh, has led the District Police Command to arrest three suspected illegal miners, popularly called ‘galamseyers’, at an illegal mining site at Bokazo in the district.
They were apprehended in an operation codenamed “Operation Zero Tolerance for Galamsey” to help protect the environment from being destroyed.
Those arrested were Stephen Kanra Meah, 42, the alleged financier of the illegal mining business; Alex Assuah, 26, an excavator operator; and Emmanuel Adjei, 30, who is also an excavator operator.
The DCE told journalists after the operation that the police would conduct investigations and the suspects taken to court if found culpable.
He said a similar operation was conducted last year during which all the miners operating illegally in the area were driven away.
He however indicated that for the past two months the assembly had realized that the recalcitrant illegal miners had gone back to the area to mine.
He lamented that the area’s land and water resources were all being destroyed.
“We have conducted lots of sensitization programmes on the need to stop the illegal mining through the District Security Committee (DISEC) but it is as if the minds of the galamseyers have been made up,” he said.
“We have declared war on illegal mining from today onwards because all the degraded lands reclaimed last year have been destroyed again.
“Illegal mining is a crime against the state, so if you want to mine, go for a licence and you will not have problems with anybody.
“The fact that you are unemployed does not mean you should go and steal. Illegal mining is a crime. It is a form of stealing the state’s resources,” the DCE stressed.
The district police commander, ASP Godact Hlordzi Dodzi, said his outfit’s biggest challenge was the fact that the district police command did not have enough personnel to sustain the operations.
“I think there should be a community engagement because if we leave everything to the security personnel alone to handle, it is going to be very difficult to sustain this operation. We have to bring everybody on board to help win the fight against illegal mining,” he said.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Ellembelle